The last two weeks were intense of music where we had two high school chamber and string orchestras and an excellent college choir on tour with concerts in Avila, Segovia, Barcelona, Cantabria, Sevilla, Granada, Málaga, Zaragoza…. with large audiences and ovations, where the high -schoolers met their mates in small and large cities and shared their music and FB´s with them, where they visited local guitar makers workshops, where hey enjoyed our flamenco music, learned about the different types of flamenco and the difference between a flamenco and a “flamingo”.

Also enjoyed and learned about our country, rich history , monuments, landscapes, food and people they met along their concert tours. Here are some pics I would love to share of all these special moments we had together. Thanks a lot to all our partners and our local friends and supporters, our drivers, our backline staff, all venues and all the warm audiences

The Wagner Choir sang in beautiful churches and in front of warm audiences in the cities of Madrid, Alcala, Sevilla, Granada and Malaga and shared their music with over + 1500 people.

The Leones de Chicago, a high school from the Chicago suburban area, played four concerts in completely different venues and in front of over +1500 people as well.

Their educational concert tour brought them to play in a local school in the medieval city of Avila, inside a beautiful neoclassical basilica in the heart of Old Madrid, in the Auditorio de Zaragoza, consider among the most beautiful in Europe in front of +900 people and in a local conservatory near Barcelona where they enjoyed a welcoming reception with the local orchestra members ,listened them playing with a local soprano and had lots of fun

In May- June we will have excellent bands, orchestras and jazz ensembles that we are finalizing all concert arrangements and we will keep you posted.

Then, we will celebrate this year our second edition of Pueblos Blancos Music Festival, organized by Phil Plata, Juan de Castro and myself with the support of the Pueblos Blancos in Andalusia and promises it will be a blast. We are expecting to welcome again over 20 international bands , mostly from Austin , Texas ; and some local bands too, that for during 5 days they will be bringing their music to all audiences next Sept 7-10.We´ll come back soon with the coming busy concert season this march and more updates,

Few days ago, the Harvard Westlake Jazz Big Band & Combos from Studio City, LA ;, finished their intense week through Spain and Portugal where they performed 7 concerts in front of over 1,400 people and where they played in Malaga, Cordoba, Seville and Puerto de Santa Maria in Andalusia, Spain and the two final concerts in Setubal and Lisbon in Portugal.

I want to thank upfront to James Smith and Maggie Rodriguez from Encore Tours, Samuel Bull the road manager , all the local Spanish jazz musicians, students and friends who attended to all the concerts and helped us to organize such a wonderful tour, and most of all to all the high school-age musicians from Harvard Westlake who brought their music and their talents under the direction of Shawn Constantino.

I cannot forget Pablo Bernardo Caveda, a personal friend and professional photographer who reflected better than a million words through his photos some of the highlight moments of the tour.

The jazz aficionados in Andalusia had the opportunity to enjoy the concerts and the excellent repertoire chosen from the songs of Count Basie, Dizzie Gillespie, Charlie Parker , Joe Henderson among others.

The jazz students from music schools and conservatories , from high school to adults ,were able to learn and jam together with the combos and the big band.

Even that the concert times where not very jazzy, as half of the concerts where celebrated at 5 pm, audiences where there are welcomed with enthusiasm the band members.

Thanks to all who participate on this tour from the craddle to its end. It was a wonderful time!

This morning the Western Washington University Concert Choir performed in the Church of Saint John of the Knights in medieval Segovia closing the festival with a hugh success of audience. Several prestige international artists performed before as the Chamber Choir f Madrid,Pino de Vittorio who played church and plazas songs from Naples on 1600, the Musica Reservata from Barcelona performing T.L.Victoria, the violinist Alejandro Bustamante playing J.S.Bach …and the WWUCC singing sacred european music and frican american spirituals and hyms.It was an excellent festival edition.

SUMMER CHORAL CONCERT SEASON

When the echoes of the Cantores Minores from Helsinki were still on the air, the Florida Singing Sons Boychoir flew to Barcelona where they started their concert tour with concerts in Barcelona , recitals in Montserrat and Basilica del Pilar, exchange concert in Bilbao with the local youth choir ARS VIVA, and a final concert in Madrid.

While they were singing in Barcelona, another excellent choir, the Christ Church of Grosse Pointe Girls and Men’s Choir were taking part of the Festival in Granada singing their concert at the Hospital Real before they visited and performed in Seville, Madrid, Zaragoza and Barcelona as well, in front of large audiences and inside excellent venues.

Want to thank you to all collaborators who make all the concerts possible and specially to our team of tour managers Pedro, Cesar and Caroline which made all the success happens

Next week the Cantores Minores Choir will start their concert tour singing in the Basilica de El Escorial before singing in Madrid, Valencia,Barcelona,Montserrat and Palma de Mallorca. We will have an unique opportunity to enjoy the voices of one of the best children choirs in Europe singing European music from the 14th to 19th century with works of compossers such as G.P. Palestrina, Ludovico Grossi da Viadana, Hans leo Hassler, J.S.Bach, Felix mendelsohn, Anton Bruckner or Sergei Rahmaninov. They will also sing a selection of Finnish music from the Middle Ages to contemporary compossers such as Fredrik Pacius, Gabriel Linsén or Jean Sibelius. The organist Markus Malmgren will play togeher with the choir some organ masterpieces from C.Hubert H.Parry, César Franck and John Rutter. The Artistic Director is Hannu Norjanen.

Last May 10th the Colorado State University Pueblo Concert Choir under Dr. Dana Ihm, arrived into Barcelona for their concert tour to Spain we organized together with Celestial Travel & Tours and John Icabone. The choir visited in 9 nights Barcelona, Valencia, Toledo, Madrid, Segovia, Alcala de Henares and Trujillo in Spain and ended the tour in Lisbon.

They sang beautifully in front of large audiences in Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid and Alcala de Henares and sang beautiful recitals in Barcelona Parc Guell, in Valencia at the City of Arts and Science and its Cathedral, in Toledo at the clositer and inside the Cathedral and in Lisbon Cathedral and Monastery of Hieronimites. Having the privilege of travelling together, attending to all their concerts and sharing with all members great momentos singing and having fun is one of the best experiences I had on my professional career that I wont forget. The one hour program it was so well planned and the repertoire was so rich and different that made concerts so enjoyable for audiences. From Saint-Saens, Victoria and Palestrina and the great European poliphonic music to the traditional american spirituals of Hall Johnson and Moses Hogan, audiences loved them so much !

Thanks a lot for your music and for all the fun we had!

Jazz in Spain- Harvard Westlake Jazz Ensemble-March/April , 2016

Few days ago, the Harvard Westlake Jazz Big Band & Combos from Studio City, LA ;, finished their intense week through Spain and Portugal where they performed 7 concerts in front of over 1,400 people and where they played in Malaga, Cordoba, Seville and Puerto de Santa Maria in Andalusia, Spain and the two final concerts in Setubal and Lisbon in Portugal.

I want to thank upfront to James Smith and Maggie Rodriguez from Encore Tours, Samuel Bull the road manager , all the local Spanish jazz musicians, students and friends who attended to all the concerts and helped us to organize such a wonderful tour, and most of all to all the high school-age musicians from Harvard Westlake who brought their music and their talents under the direction of Shawn Constantino.

I cannot forget Pablo Bernardo Caveda, a personal friend and professional photographer who reflected better than a million words through his photos some of the highlight moments of the tour.

The jazz aficionados in Andalusia had the opportunity to enjoy the concerts and the excellent repertoire chosen from the songs of Count Basie, Dizzie Gillespie, Charlie Parker , Joe Henderson among others.

The jazz students from music schools and conservatories , from high school to adults ,were able to learn and jam together with the combos and the big band.

Even that the concert times where not very jazzy, as half of the concerts where celebrated at 5 pm, audiences where there are welcomed with enthusiasm the band members.

Thanks to all who participate on this tour from the craddle to its end. It was a wonderful time!

Next Wednesday 23 the Western Washington Concert Choir will sing at the historical Romanesque Cathedral of Salamanca at 20 h. The sacred program will include all a Capella works from European and north american composers, from the XVI century until today and from classic polyphonic works to hymns, gospel and spirituals. A unique selection of sacred music for the Holy Week under incredible and talented voices inside the marvelous Cathedral of Salamanca.

Western Washington University Concert Choir

Setubal (Portugal)- Sunday March 20,2016

The Western Washington Concert Choir will perform tomorrow the first concert in the church of Sao Juliao in Setubal. It will be the only chance to see them in concert in Portugal this weekend. They sacred program will include Iberian and American motets of Lauridsen, Victoria and Billings, American Hymns arrangements by Shawn Kirchner,Robert Shaw and alice parker and Afro American Spirituals and gospel songs.This will be the first concert of their tour before singing in other medieval towns in Spain

Western Washington University Concert Choir on Tour in Spain and Portugal (March,2016)

The Semana Santa ( Holy Week) will start next weekend and while most of the cities in Spain will celebrate through its processions, where local brotherhoods of musicians and devoted Catholics will stroll along the heart of the old medieval cities holding magnificent sculptures of the Madonna and Jesus, celebrating the Passion and Resurection of Jesus, we at Perform in Spain will start our concert season with the Western Washington University Concert Choir that will perform five concerts of sacred and secular music, under the direction of Leslie Guelker-Cone. the 45-member choir of university mixed voices will perform a capella in Setubal, Salamanca, Avila Segovia and Miraflores de la Sierra during the Holy Week, with amazing programs and works from Morten Lauridsen to Victoria, and an amazing selection of American Hymns and Afro American spirituals and Gospel. More news com soon.

Pueblos Blancos Music Fest- September 15-18, 20016

February 2016 Updates –

It has been a while since we connected with our friends of Mundi in Austin, Texas and since I met with Phil Plata. Our passion for music had been always there since the first time I heard from Darrel Myers , Mundi artistic director, and his intention to bring his ensemble to perform in Spain, when he mentioned that he falled in love with the Cantigas of King Alfonso, one of the oldest music written in medieval Europe. I could not say no and we started sailing together in the first Mundi concert tour in Spain.

Since that time I went several times to Austin and San Antonio and we did organize three concert tours for them in Spain.

Last summer Phil Plata with Karen Loke came to Spain and visited Pueblos Blancos and we both decided to make this dream come true. The idea to bring bands from all over the world to play in the Pueblos Blancos , to make an encounter of musicians there for few days and to share and play music became real when we saw the blessing of the different towns envolved and the support of Montejaque and Juan de Castro. At that time, last January we met again in Austin with local bands and everyone was very enthusiastic with our project.

Phil there, Juan in Pueblos Blancos and myself from here are working every day and do hope that soon we will be able to complete the list of participant bands.

We have update information in our FB https://www.facebook.com/PueblosBlancosMusicFestival/info/?tab=page_info

and through our http://www.pueblosblancosmusicfestival.com/ where you will e able to see about the venues, bands coming and dates.

Saludos!

Pueblos Blancos Music Fest -September 15-18, 20016

January 2016

Nestled in the heart of the magical Pueblos Blancos of Spain’s Andalusia Region, this is an area steeped in history, legend & myth; a crossroad of time & culture! Centered around the beautiful mountain top village of Montejaque, the festival will hold converts in the spectacular pueblo blancos of Villaluenga del Rosario, Grazalema, & Ronda (The City of Dreams). There will be multiple excursions & exhibitions during the daytime, including the mythical Cueva del Gato, Cueva de la Pileta (1 of only 2 places in the world where you can see ~25,000-year old, prehistoric, poly-chromatic cave paintings, the Roman ruins of Ronda la Vieja & so much more. This region is home to some of the best food & drink in the world!!! If you want to venture a bit further out, the Mediterranean Ocean, Seville, & Cadiz (maybe the oldest inhabited city in the world) are just over an hour away & the in-between is spectacular! England (The Rock of Gibraltar) is ~1.5 hours away. Take a short ferry ride across the Strait of Gibraltar and you can set foot on the continent of Africa in the country of Morocco, The amazing cities of Cordoba & Granada our just over 2-hours away! All musical events, much of the events & some excursions will be free to the public!!! Hasta pronto amigos!!!

Madrid, Flamenco Monumental Festival, December 2015

Besides the great Gospel Concerts coming the next weeks, we cannot forget about the Flamenco Monumental and its two concerts . Next 12 december Jose Mercé, Carmen Linares, Gerardo Nuñez and La Moneta. The day after with a touch of jazz we will see Trio Benavent, Jorge Pardo, Di Geraldo, Valderrama, Arcangel and Rocio Marquez……. what else

Midwest Clinic Conference in Chicago

From December 16 to 19, 2015

Next week we will be attending the conference in Chicago and we will be open to meet with group leaders and conductors interested to come and perform in Spain.Contact us anytime at info@performinspain.com